US Sen. Edward Kennedy checked out of the Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, today, after undergoing a very difficult brain surgery to treat a malign tumor.

Kennedy, 76, returned to his home in Hyannis Port, where he will continue recuperating until the next phase of the treatment starts.

 “His doctors are pleased with his progress since surgery ... and he will continue to recuperate at home before starting the next phase of his treatment,” his office said in a statement.

The senator’s office also informed that, in order to protect the family’s privacy, “there will not be regular updates regarding the senator's daily schedule or treatment plans moving forward.”

Kennedy’s doctors at Duke Medical Center said the senator would begin targeted radiation and chemotherapy treatment at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

Kennedy was diagnosed on May 17 with a malignant brain tumor known as a glioma. Patients with the worst form of malignant glioma usually survive about 12 to 15 months, experts say, but every patient is different and there’s “a bunch of new treatments that are looking pretty good,” said Matthew Ewend, chief of neurosurgery at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, referring to Kennedy’s chances of surviving.

The three-hour surgery that the senator underwent was successful and he told his wife Vicky that he was feeling “like a million buck.” Before returning home, Kennedy spent a period of recuperation at the hospital in North Carolina. It is not yet known when he may return to work in the Senate.